260 BULLETIN OF THE 



trically sculptured with (in the adult) usually 15-20 ribs, rather narrower than 

 their interspaces, and generally with, toward the middle of the shell, a dupli- 

 cated appearance, caused by a faint wave immediately above the main one ; 

 the ribs in all cases fail about the beginning of the last third of the shell, 

 which portion is merely striated or even smooth ; in some specimens the 

 whole surface is nearly smooth, or has about double the usual number of faint 

 subequal close-set ribs over the anterior two-thirds ; in these cases it some- 

 times happens that the fine ribbing will extend over the greater part of the 

 area usually smooth, but, after comparing all the specimens, I am unable to 

 regard these difl'erences as more than varietal ; the lunule is lanceolate, some- 

 times subcordate, smooth, somewhat depressed and bounded rather by the 

 change in the sculpture than jy any line of demarcation ; the ligament is 

 short, immediately behind the beaks ; the posterior area is elongated, bounded 

 by two faint ridges, from which the surface slopes to the hinge-margin ; the 

 interior is smooth, with the muscular scars small and situated rather close to 

 the margin ; the crenulations of the edge are rounded, minute and close-set; 

 they are noticeable at all ages ; the right valve has one strong cardinal tooth 

 with a pit on each side of it, the anterior hinge margin slightly grooved, the 

 posterior sharp-edged ; the left valve has two strong teeth and the anterior 

 margin sharp, while there is a long groove in the posterior margin to receive 

 the edge of the right valve. Lon. of shell 7.0 ; alt. 6.0 ; diam. 4.0 mm. 



Habitat, Oflf Sombrero, 64 fms. ; Station 36, 84 fms. ; Sigsbee, off Havana, 

 100-450 fms.; Barbados, 100 fms.; Station 5, 229 fms.; Station 44, 539 fms.; 

 Station 274, Barbados, in 209 fms., sand, bottom temperature 53°.5 F.; Station 

 206, near Martinique, in 170 fms., bottom temperature 49°.0 ; Station 132, 

 near Santa Cruz, in 115 fms., bottom temperature 65°.0 ; Station 33, in 1568 

 fms., one valve, perhaps drifted. Dredged in 200 fms., on Campeche Bank, by 

 Dr. W. H. Rush, U. S. N. 



The strongly sculptured form, which may be taken as the type of the 

 species, has a shorter and more cordate lunule, a much more sunken and 

 sharply defined dorsal area, and a shorter ligament, than the variety with less 

 pronounced sculpture, which may take the name of Astarte Smithii, var. glo- 

 bula. The two varieties occur indifferently together, the type, however, being 

 much the more numerous. I need hardly add that the specific name is given 

 in honor of Mr. Edgar A. Smith, of the British Museum, who has monographed 

 this genus, and to whom I am indebted for many useful criticisms and kindly 

 furnished bits of information. 



The figure, drawn before the specimens had been finally studied, does not show 

 the apparent duplication of the riblets in the middle part as well as many of the 

 specimens do, but it is a fair representation of the one from which it was made. 



A small species of Gouldia, which I took to be Venus cubaniana D'Orb., being 

 mixed with these Astartes, they were hastily taken to be all one species, caus- 

 ing some confusion of localities in the preliminary report. This species is 

 related to Astarte lens Stm., which is referred to by Jeffreys as a variety of 



